I am a development economist based at the University of Oxford, where I hold a joint position between the Department of International Development and the Centre for Islamic Studies (equivalent to tenure-track Assistant Professor). I am also affiliated with the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE). I completed my PhD from the Department of Economics, University of Oxford, followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship until 2020. I have also previously completed postgraduate degrees in finance (MSc, LSE), economics (PGDip, Cambridge), and development economics (MSc, Oxford).
Prior to academia, I worked for five years as a trader in the financial markets, for Bank of America in London and Deutsche Bank in Singapore, where I traded European and Asian government bonds, foreign exchange derivatives and other fixed-income products.
In my research, I am interested in the effect of equity-like financial contracts — involving, for example, shared ownership of fixed assets, sharing of revenue streams, or profit sharing — on the investment and growth of small firms. I have conducted fieldwork in Pakistan, Kenya, Bangladesh and Indonesia.
Publications
COVID-19 and the Future of Microfinance: Evidence and Insights from Pakistan (with Kashif Malik, Jonathan Morduch, Timothy Ogden, Simon Quinn, and Farah Said) (2020). Oxford Review of Economic Policy, [Coverage: Economics Observatory; MIT Technology Review, Dawn, The News International, World Bank, Development Impact]
Other
Dynamic literature review: Microfinance (with Jing Cai, Simon Quinn, Erica Field, Cynthia Kinnan, Jonathan Morduch, Jonathan de Quidt, and Farah Said) (2021) VoxDevLit
Mutuality and The Potential of Microequity (with Kate Roll and Simon Quinn) Book chapter in ‘Putting Purpose into Practice: The Economics of Mutuality’ (edited by Colin Mayer and Bruno Roche) (2021) Oxford University Press.
Ongoing work
Levelling the Debt-Equity Playing Field: Evidence from a Belgian Policy Change. Revise and Resubmit, European Economic Review
Asset-based Microfinance for Microenterprises: Evidence from Pakistan (with Faisal Bari, Kashif Malik, and Simon Quinn) [Working paper: CEPR][Coverage: VoxDev, IPA, FAI, World Bank, CGD]— January 2021
Microequity and Mutuality: Credit with Performance-Contingent Repayment for Gig Workers (with Francesco Cordaro, Marcel Fafchamps, Colin Mayer, Simon Quinn, and Kate Roll)
Microequity for Microenterprises: Evidence from Artefactual Field Experiments and a Survey
Financing Virtual Migration: Online Freelancing and Income Sharing in Rural Bangladesh (with Mehrab Bakhtiar, Simon Quinn, and Abu Shonchoy) [Coverage: Dhaka Tribune , PEDL research note]